And on the stone wall above Windansea, 16-year-old Miles Herrera, the top of his wetsuit stripped to his waist, studies the waves.

Herrera lives in Mission Bay and surfs Windansea once or twice a week. He says teenagers in the water swap tales about the Shack, retelling that storms twice demolished the structure, only for it to stubbornly resurface again.

But does he feel the spiritual presence that locals 50 and 60 years his senior swear exists?

“Whenever it’s less crowded, there’s more ocean, the cliffs are in the background, it seems more like nature,” says Herrera. “It’s like a sanctum, a sanctuary.”